So, I have PF2E subscription and I receive all of the books and all of the PDFs and I paid for all of them already. Why would I want to pay for everything again in Demiplane? I am legitimately trying to figure out a way to justify this to my girlfriend who asked me just this question.
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This is a great question, and one that I’m happy to answer!
I will start by noting that there are some people who may find that Demiplane isn’t the right set of tools for them, and that’s okay.
As I think about it, there are several reasons why a Pathfinder player might choose to use Demiplane:
- Ease of Access. There are a lot of rules to keep track of in Pathfinder 2e- It’s part of what many players love about the system. Building and managing characters is simple, you have all the books at your fingertips, and you can access anything you want, on any device, from anywhere in the world.
- User Experience. No matter how much a tool can do, there’s no point if it’s impossible to figure out. We have built Pathfinder NEXUS to be more than just any set of tools; they’re easy to use. We don’t make you search around for important information like what a spell or item can do, we present it to you directly. In the books, in our rules compendiums, and on your character sheet. The information is easy to find so you can get back to gaming. This is especially helpful for new players, in my experience.
- Time Saving. This is tied to both 1 and 2, but many of us are very busy and having a tool that saves you time is a huge benefit. I made a level 2 character last week for a one shot using a class I’d never played before and was ready to go in about 8 minutes, including spell selection. If I was using pencil and paper, that would have taken me at least twice as long.
- The Platform. Demiplane offers tools for many games, and we’re announcing more publishing partners regularly. We also offer matchmaking where you can find groups online that have the same playstyle as you. Demiplane is going to become a hub for tabletop roleplaying games of all different types, which means you could have all your games in one convenient location. Whether you play online or in-person, Pathfinder, ALIEN, Marvel, or something else, you can do it all in one place, which is just convenient.
I know others have their own reasons, and maybe some of our community members will share the benefits they’ve found to be most convincing, but that’s why I think it’s worth investing in Demiplane: Because our tools make it easier than ever to play the games you love any time and anywhere you want. 
I will note that since you own all of the PDFs in your Paizo account, you will receive a deep discount on any titles you do purchase on Demiplane when you connect your account using Paizo Connect. And if there are any books you don’t see that discount for, submit a support ticket and we’ll make sure you get that discount you deserve!
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For me it’s about having a Premium Character Builder. I know there is a lot of love for another Pathfinder Building tool but I honestly didnt enjoy that experience.
- Demiplane make’s it easy for me to get new players into the game. I can simply send them a link to join the game and then remotely monitor their progress as they make characters.
- Demiplane lets me access the current copy of my players Character Sheets from anywhere and at any time.
- No more losing character sheets prior to a game. If Bob turns up and says he forgot his sheet, we can pull it up online with no issues.
- I really like being able to link to the character sheets from my Campaign Management tool (Obsidian.md). I literally have it setup so that I can type a players name in my notes and that converts to a link automatically and when I hover/click that note the current copy of the character sheet opens up.
- I’m finding the online versions of the book easy to read. I personally hate pdfs for most things and Paizo pdf’s are certainly ok but fall into the pdf category of not perfect. I like to create entire copies of the modules I run into Obsidian.md and Demiplane is perfect for that. The images copy out perfectly with lovely transparency and I can use the structure and layout of their content to replicate in Obsidian.md giving me a perfect foundation to start ripping apart and changing/upgrading however I like.
Worth noting it’s not perfect yet or even close to finished. It’s in Open Beta and it’s a real Beta imho. Basic functionality like Printing is still missing.
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That’s interesting. I mean, it’s nice, but it’s so hard to justify buying books twice. It’s a really nice looking interface, but I am shelling out 40 to 60 dollars a book already and even if it’s 1/2 price for already owning the books, that’s still turns a 60 dollar book into a 90 dollar book. If you take that and think how many different books that Paizo has… that’s like 2k in sourcebooks alone. and I am already paying 2/3 of that for hardback and PDFs (which comes free as part of the subscription).
I use Foundry for my VTT and it handles character management. I have already paid outright for that and it allows me to import my officially licensed PDFs in to the system for me to use in my game, which frankly is the way it should be. I’ve already paid for something and I don’t think I should have to pay again and again. It’s part of the reason I left FG was because I kept having to pay and pay for that.
I think it’s a really nice looking product and if I could bring in the stuff I already paid for to use with it, then maybe it would be worth switching (again, lol), but as of right now I really can justify it. You know what I mean?
Have a great day and if you’re going to Gencon then have a great time!
Chris
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Each individual needs to manage their own purchase decisions per their own plot in life.
But end of the day… this is how it works.
3rd party companies are making tools that allow us to play PF2E. That content though is owned and copyright by Paizo and as such the 3rd party companies pay a license fee to Paizo to allow them to sell Paizo content for profit. They also charge the consumer for overheads such as development of the tools, data entry, maintenance and support.
Without this sort of deal, you end up with tools that support piracy that can disappear over-night once the lawyers find them.
Paizo’s policy with the pdf being a digital copy of the license is so much better than anything else I have seen. If you go and play 5e for example, you pay that digital license fee every single time you purchase the same product on a new platform. It’s nasty piracy imo.
Worth noting that Foundry is also heading in this direction. The ability to suck up a pdf is no longer supported or being maintained and the platform is moving towards the sale of official modules that need to be purchased in exactly the same way. That’s not to say the community won’t develop another solution, but the official future of pf2e on Foundry is the same concept in that you should be paying for adventures within the tool.
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Im sure it’s been compared to dndbeyond before, but it is nice that you can purchase particular parts of the source books such as 1 specific subclass or what not in dndbeyond.
I just tried making my first character on the builder, I love gunslingers, and I cannot select the class. If I could pay $5 or so just for that class, I would definitely do that. I guarantee I wont be paying $35 for the digital book when I paid $33CAD for the pocket edition.
I can confirm that piecemeal purchases are on the roadmap. We’ve got a little more ground to cover before we can implement it, but that is something we fully intend to support.
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A good way to go is to only purchase the books that you are using options from. You don’t need everything. Most tables will pretty much use four books at a time. CRB, APG will cover almost everything.
For example, my table that has eight players is using CRB, APG, LO:AG, and BotD.
Then the only other book really used is Grand Bazaar, but items aren’t really supported very well yet in the open beta.
I love to hear this. Being able to purchase single classes and parts of the books will be able to get individuals in much easier.
I hear you. From a gamer perspective it is so much easier to have one location to look up all the information, especially when you use bits and pieces from multiple books. Trying to look up the exact wording of spells, feats, etc. You know the GM is going to ask where that really cool thing you got came from.
From a new gamer perspective, “Holy carp, look at that stack of books you have. I want to have a cool character like yours but that is too much to delve into.” Info overload in 5, 4, 3…
From a GM perspective, it is so much easier to say, “What is the name of it? I’ll look it up to make sure we are all clear on how this works.” I don’t know about you, but I’ve got a stack of books and PDFs and it is easier to have one spot for info vs. trying to remember which book you found that juicy morsel in.
That is awesome, thanks for the heads up and ill keep checking in.